Langkawi confident of maintaining Unesco Global Geopark status

LANGKAWI: The re-evaluation of Langkawi’s status as a Unesco Global Geopark ended today on a positive note, giving hope that the island will be able to retain this honour for the third time.

Langkawi Development Authority (Lada) chief executive officer Dr Hezri Adnan said although the outcome of the five-day evaluation would only be known by December, positive feedback had been received from Dr Kirstin Lemon and Sigurour Sigursveinsson, the two experts who undertook the assessment.

When met at the Hari Raya Aidiladha celebrations at Inap Desa Bukit Tangga here today, Hezri said that based on his interaction with the experts over the past five days including the debriefing session, things looked positive.

Langkawi was declared a geopark on June 1, 2007 by Global Geoparks Network, a body that sits under the umbrella of the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (Unesco), making the island the world’s 52nd geopark out of a field of 147, and also the first geopark in Southeast Asia.

Its status as a geopark was retained twice in 2011 and 2015 based on re-evaluations conducted by geology experts, in accordance with the condition that such a status is reviewed every four years.

According to Hezri, the visiting experts had also suggested that Langkawi establish cooperation with the European Geoparks Network, in addition to the island’s existing links with the Asia Pacific network, as both movements encompass very different histories. — Bernama